If it gets off the ground it will be free form with some limits which will make sense soon.

Each player controls a ruling family (royal blood) of a faction which has generational hatred towards those they boarder with. Although romance and relationships form between individuals across such boarders, nothing close to an alliance conceptually is that easy. Possible perhaps, but not without constant effort and circumstances will likely have it fray.

The world is "Alaron" - basically a mythical world resembling Europe during its dark ages where magic exists but in passive form. Paranormal places are known but intentional magic is ritualistic, artifacts from ancient times exist but they are more strange than useful and deliberate magic is limited to being managed via complex ceremonies in magic towers) (no fireballs or lightning-bolts from fingertips or the like )

You role play as many of your royal blood / their servants or whatever as you like, thus you can have a few actiony characters and a few schemers / strategists some ceremonial figureheads / whatever. Know those of royal blood typically will be escorted with an entourage of body guards etc but always your figurehead will be in your castle.

One thread per estate, one thread for "everything else" ie any place that doesn't belong to a player.

Pictures being added to threads are encouraged - but all must be photo-realistic to keep the theme constant.

It is envisaged such that if one player doesn't post it doesn't hold up anyone, and if the storyteller doesn't post, that doesn't hold up things moving and developing elsewhere also. Over time the war-hungry factions end up posting often together - either in an alliance against some threat / or in competition for some opportunity that's bathed in battle - and the more diplomatic ones have more to do with each other .. and over time relationship landscapes between the ruling factions emerge on their own.

Mostly it would be something that could run itself as ambassadors of your lands could be posted in others estates - permitting dialog / scheming / sexual encounters etc without it needing a dependency on a centralised writer, freeing the the story teller to be focused on imposing disasters / opportunities etc to estates to keep things even and interesting.

Your cutlure's Strengths / Weaknesses

(spend 20 points among the following)

Civillian's infrastructure ( roads / workshops etc )

Defenses

Spy network

Army (or forces whatever that may be)

Magic Tower (the only place magic can be performed - and it does involve 10+ witches/priests/priestesses etc and nothing happens quickly)

Magic

(distribute any points placed in magic to one or more of the following sub-areas)

Angellic (Healing)

Demonic (Summoning)

Scrying (Also can be used to fathom the mysteries of ancient artifacts)

Weather

Alchemy

?

Note: Anything that has instant effects would be due to artifacts that none know how to create anymore, if you found one figuring out what it does / how it does it / what it was made would mostly stay in mystery.

If you REALLY want to have some strange ability that isnt above, it has to be ok'd by all other players (ie ... can turn into a different creature as we are all werewolves etc) ... still a unique magic ability that is new and not common in typical fantasy books would be more likely to be approved due to novelty...

What I was hoping for was

a) Extreme themes being deemed ok... (yes one of your nobles may be pushed over a cliff ... but another will replace them). But not comical scenes, IF your thinking anime this thread isn't for you. b) Other players feeling free to be really nasty to other players if they want to without it really ruining the fun for anyone as anything bad that happens to one player will likely be a tipping point for a third player to aid them and pound whoever was the offender - creating a temporary alliance enough so none can really dominate.

Races

MUST you play humans ? No, but ideally most would be for mixing with other factions is the intention All races that are not humans have to be ok'd by all other factions.Eg ... Elves ? Merfolk ? Something strange you had in mind ?if others are ok with it sure ... BUT it does limit options your faction has.

This seems really interesting and gives freedom to effect things on a more wide scale then just through little scenerios. Battles, strategy sessions and so much more added to the story then just personal interactions only. If this gets going I would like to play. You covered anything I could think of.

I think this idea has a lot of potential, mostly for the reasons Daimon noted. Why limit the PCs to the royal family though? With each player basically controlling an entire kingdom it seems like there would be a lot of potential for fun story lines involving spys or scheming lesser nobility or smoldering peasant uprisings.

For the Strengths/Weaknesses section, is there going to be some sort of system in play where dice rolls will determine the outcome of some conflicts, or will the points just be used as a sort of guild line to indicate how the countries compare to each other? With a perfectly balanced kingdom there would only be 2 points in each; would 2 be considered "average"? And how does Magic factor in? It seems like some aspects of it overlap with other categories, especially scrying and the spy network.I think overall a larger point pool to work with along with a higher baseline would allow for more variability between the different countries.Maybe Magic should be a seperate attribute, where everyone gets a set number of points to invest in the different "schools"

You described the setting as somewhat similar to medieval Europe - are we restricted to European races/cultures? And does that apply to society at large, particularly with regards to gender roles and prejudices of the time? I was thinking of having my country's king recently deceased, leaving behind no male heirs but three daughters. Obviously it would work fine with equal gender footing, but it doesn't seem like it would be as much fun without the inherent controversy an unmarried queen ruling on her own would have had at the time.

I'm tentatively thinking of playing a small but wealthy country with rather poor Army and Defense stats but an extensive spy network and a national focus on learning and progress. They rely mostly on "Secrets" gathered over the years, essentially holding enough blackmail material to keep the other kingdoms from attacking them without very good reason.

I think this idea has a lot of potential, mostly for the reasons Daimon noted. Why limit the PCs to the royal family though? With each player basically controlling an entire kingdom it seems like there would be a lot of potential for fun story lines involving spys or scheming lesser nobility or smoldering peasant uprisings.

- Good point ... I have removed that condition - wanna role play some street rat that's a damn good thief or shady assassin - ok - np !

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For the Strengths/Weaknesses section, is there going to be some sort of system in play where dice rolls will determine the outcome of some conflicts, or will the points just be used as a sort of guild line to indicate how the countries compare to each other?

Well strangely no - there will be no system, as far "who wins" if say A fights B, typically the writers themselves will resolve it, one will write "I take the battlements" .. then the other writes ... but my secret archers level the attackers calvary and supply / escape routes.... if this went on, a lot of the to-and-fro stuff can be resolved by the factions themselves .. people DO write about their characters / armies dying loosing for poetic reasons. Say if one did thought what comes out of it is a hero.

Eg .. say your faction takes heavy losses ... what I would encourage (hopefully not needing me to write it so but most just do so)that the looser has at least ONE or two people escape to see another day ... which happen to end up either finding some super opportunity (stumble upon a bunch of people that hate the attackers also) ... or become a super swordsman or whatever. Evening things up from a role play / power perspective ( but still loosing the battle).... if your faction can't be stamped into the ground entirely, the more its picked on the more strange and specialized it becomes (pehaps befriending a magical creature like a dragon that sort of shares your values / becomes your factions protector ... or some griffin eggs .. permitting a new breed of archer-calvary for your nation that can FLY.. you get the picture. With a fantasy setting its easy to insert something that keeps it fun for whoever looses a major battle. ... and the victor will have another castle / larger lands / more to control - but also more to manage / more uprisings / more administration probably a plague or two while the water-wells are being returned into working order ... ie the victor is still "better" off but not by much, and whoever lost not that poorer for "loosing"... many would prefer to have dragons on their side than some moldy castle anyway.

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With a perfectly balanced kingdom there would only be 2 points in each; would 2 be considered "average"?

As far as estates go 2 would be considered very good. MOST estates nearby have 1 for something, ie you can still conqure lands nearby that don't belong to other players, but they dont have that much - its mainly wilds / barbarians. Each of your factions are the only real established civilizations in the world. Your faction conquering / exploring new lands is easy, truely conquering each other isn't.

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And how does Magic factor in? It seems like some aspects of it overlap with other categories, especially scrying and the spy network.

Good point. If others have alternative suggestions like Alchemy they think should be added - happy to change the list.

Yes with spy / scrying there is an overlap. Some may prefer to be informed / diplomatic with a magical air, some more practical. Spys may lie to you, but spys can do stuff other than inform you. Srying can tell you things about places, but may sometimes not work (cloudy visions in the pool or crystal or whatever) but can give insight into artifacts your underlings find for you. Prefer one or the other or both ? With both selling information / being a "master house of spys" could BE your strength, no need for an army when your already three steps ahead of everyone else, with bribes, misinformation, pulling strings to have enemies of your own fighting each other etc.

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I think overall a larger point pool to work with along with a higher baseline would allow for more variability between the different countries.

Agreed, good point twenty points it is !

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Maybe Magic should be a seperate attribute, where everyone gets a set number of points to invest in the different "schools"

Um not against this idea - perfer to hear others thoughts on what feels right with the twenty point adjustment = can put them ALL into magic if you want to. Or ALL into infrastructure ... like you own the trade-merchant ships ... which ALSO has a navy fleet that has its own army ... )

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You described the setting as somewhat similar to medieval Europe - are we restricted to European races/cultures?

Nope you can be Queen / King of the fairy's if you like... BUT it can't be comical, so if you say 'Yeah I wanna be queen of the fairies... they are not all tinkerbells that glow - some are ... like the Labyrinth or the Dark Crystal sort of creatures.

Still if you want to play something really strange ... like I don't know ... undead vampires or something ALL other players will have to vote ok (not just me). It HAS to fit in / feel right, because they are a major faction (not a major individual)

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And does that apply to society at large, particularly with regards to gender roles and prejudices of the time? I was thinking of having my country's king recently deceased, leaving behind no male heirs but three daughters. Obviously it would work fine with equal gender footing, but it doesn't seem like it would be as much fun without the inherent controversy an unmarried queen ruling on her own would have had at the time.

Factions will be more like cultures in their own regard. The differences can be - in faction A women rule utterly, men just work the minds and do slave work. Or ... all women are magical and all men do everything else. Or all men are superior in all ways - women are just sex objects / slaves to whatever... and any shade of grey in between.

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I'm tentatively thinking of playing a small but wealthy country with rather poor Army and Defense stats but an extensive spy network and a national focus on learning and progress. They rely mostly on "Secrets" gathered over the years, essentially holding enough blackmail material to keep the other kingdoms from attacking them without very good reason.

Im game for the attributes to change .. perhaps "library/trade/wealth" can be candidate additional attributes... this is just a rough template at the moment. If more interest appears with modifications im all ears. Do any REALLY want to have explicit magic like being able to cast fireballs / lightning bolts ? - I'm not totally against it, but would only agree if the majority thought that it would add to the feel of the threads.

Someone that could use mirrors as doors to other mirrors etc could be interesting.